Have you ever caught a 40-pound sewer cover that has a 90hp forked tail?

With many game fish, they are fish of a thousand casts – romancing those who blindly beat the proverbial bushes all day in hopes their invitation getting even a nod of receipt. Those famous fish types, salmons and steelhead, have been reserved for the past regal among us with nothing ever earned to have such a résumé. Some qualify as regal among us because they made catching skills reason for their title catches legally fostering the yelp, “Fish on.”

Still, other fly fishers, who will never be regal in any sense of the word, are worthy players because they support the still beautiful habitats in which their tormentors choose to confound

Christiaan Pretorius. Abaco Lodge principal at the time this video taken, goes over his preferred permit set up in the Bahamas.

My admission to the “other fly fishers” category is because in 65 years of fly fishing the world I’ve never ‘landed’ a permit caught on the flats. Catching them over wrecks with fast sinking lines on 12-weights, wire bite guards, not IGFA rigged, and on random GPS sweeps does not qualify, but fun for sure.

Who would not want a bar room brawl in open water with a 40-pound [Trachinotus falcatus] sewer cover that has a 90 HP rated forked tail?

The guy in the film [pictured left], qualifies as regal in the sense that he knows how to, and has for a long time, been able to catch and land big falcatus’ on strictly IGFA fly rigged weapons – or so it seems.